Gurgaon, now Gurugram is the city of dreams for a huge young population of India. Techies wish to see it mentioned in their CVs. Many big MNCs have this city as their top pick for building their headquarters. But that’s just one side of the story. An equally known truth is that the city is a huge pile of mess. And in last four years, since we shifted to the city, I’ve seen it only becoming messier.
I have no intention, whatsoever, to play politics here. Who did what and what not, who is responsible for what, what are the achievements of so and so party or politician. Spare me, please!
All I know is that the moment you take a turn from the main road, all you would find is a mega-bumpy ride waiting for you. And that can’t be blamed on the start-studded highway, flyover, underpass work going all around in the city. I am talking about the in-roads that lead to our homes and offices, not the ones that lead to five-star hotels and stadiums which the chief minister and other misters often visit.
We don’t need a flood or hailstorm, a few minutes of rain is enough to make it look like a backwater city. No lessons seem to have been learned from the epic record-breaking GuruJam of 2016. Only good thing is that the rain gods excused us this year.
But there was a sample two-day intermittent rain a few days ago. What it did was reflect in the resulting tally of Gurgaon Municipal Elections that followed. BJP won 14 out of 34 seats. Councillor elections are said to be the easiest elections to win for the party that is ruling in the state. Not sure if the party has learned any lesson. Though they have managed to make government howsoever. The addition and multiplication of winning candidates is a different story altogether.
The bright side of the story is that government is not doing any partiality. All cities are equal in their eyes and it doesn’t matter if you pay the highest taxes or host the biggest investment events, house the best startup and MNC – the development will come when it will. No priority, no special status.
Disclaimer: I am not sure if ‘gaon’ and ‘gram’ have different stature & importance and fall in what order in any hierarchy list of town planning.